FFVIII2: LOTSL
by SorceressKyrsty
Summary: Final Fantasy VIII-2: Legend of the Silver Lion. When strange things begin to happen around them, Squall's group sets out to investigate. But can they bear the truth of the matter? Set 7/8 months after original game.
1. Chapter I: False Hope

**Hey people!**

**I've been working on this story for a while now in my mind and I thought I'd finally share. It's a sequel to Final Fantasy VIII, and is "officially" titled Final Fantasy VIII-2: Legend of the Silver Lion. Review, crit, post hate notes, whatever.**

**I'm not really fussed. Just so you know I'm not afraid to go into sensitive areas of writing but I'll warn you of those chapters =P.**

**~CHAPTER ONE~**

**-False Hope-**

Squall shot up into a sitting position from his bed like a rocket, his sheets flying off the bed and floating to the floor. Sweat was pouring off of his body, causing his singlet shirt to cling to his chest, as it heaved out heavy gasps of air. His face was a look of complete and utter fear, his stormy-blue eyes staring inwardly at horrors only he could see.

He took in a few more deep breaths, and then ran his fingers through his chestnut-brown hair, sighing loudly. He'd been having these reoccurring nightmares for months now, but the last dream…it was more real, more horrific, and more ominous than the rest, almost like a climax.

He inwardly prayed that it was. He could barely stand these dreams anymore. In fact, he'd become a bit of an insomniac, avoiding sleep for days until he just dropped to the floor from exhaustion.

His friends were getting worried about him, but no matter what pills, prescriptions or potions, how active or lazy he was throughout the day or what time he went to bed, the nightmares always returned.

He stood up, stretching and yawning at the same time. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was something important on today, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He walked towards his large, airy window, a trademark piece of the Garden's dormitories, and looked out into the gardens outside, where birds were twittering happily, blissfully unaware of the torment still seething in Squall's mind.

He heard the door click open, and as he spun around on his heel to see who was interrupting his deep and meaningful thinking he was enveloped in a periwinkle-blue cardigan.

"What the hell, Rinoa?" he asked, as he glanced down to the owner of the cardigan, who had her arms firmly wrapped around him in a tight embrace.

"I heard you scream my name" she whispered. "Was it the nightmares again?"

"It's always the nightmares, Rinoa" Squall replied sadly. Rinoa let go and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I guess so. I just hope they don't stay that bad"

Rinoa continued to look concerned, and then her pale rose-pink lips formed a smile.

"I've got something to take your mind off of your sleep" she said cheekily.

Squall's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Like what?" he asked, his mind racing through options. Mission, date…

He got an "Irvine-thought" and shook his head.

"I'm not guessing" he said stubbornly, folding his arms.

"Don't tell me you don't remember what today is!" said Rinoa in surprise, he eyes going wide.

Squall turned his head to the side. It was August…the mission report he wrote 3 days ago was dated the 20th….

That would make is August 23rd.

Squall face-palmed.

"It's my birthday!" he shouted in shock. "I can't believe I forgot"

Rinoa grinned at him.

"The rest of the group said you probably wouldn't remember. You're not really the type to celebrate"

"Yeah, you're right on this one"

Rinoa pouted and put her hands on her hips.

"Well you're going to celebrate your 18th birthday" she said in an annoyed tone.

Squall sighed.

"Don't I get a choice?" he asked in a defeated tone. "Can't I just go drink myself silly and label that 'celebration'?"

Rinoa glared at him.

"And why would you want to do that?" she asked.

"Well, I'm hoping if I get smashed enough I won't have the nightmares"

"Really smart, Squall" said Rinoa sarcastically.

"You're not suffering these nightmares" he replied angrily, and made his way for the door, but Rinoa grabbed his arm.

"We've been trying so hard, Squall. It may not seem like it but we want to help you. Please, just get dressed and meet us in the Meeting Room"

The Meeting Room was a large room in the dormitory area used for birthday parties, celebrations, etc, since the Quad really wasn't the best place if it was small-scale. The Quad makes it look very cheap and not very fun.

The Meeting Room didn't do that.

Squall sighed in resignation and Rinoa grinned ecstatically. She dashed out of the room, the blue cardigan flying behind her.

Squall sighed again, quieter this time, and began getting dressed. He pulled off his sweat-drenched shirt and rubbed the rest of his sweat off with it, then grabbed a clean one out of the draw and slipped it on. He pulled his dark brown leather coat off of its hook on the wall and shrugged it on, then buckled up his belts and pulled on his shoes.

He ran his fingers through his hair a few times, not really being too fussed about it, and left the dorm, pulling the door closed behind him and locking it with his own keycard.

He turned and started making his way down the hall, putting his hands in his pockets as his shoes made soft flump sounds on the rich, red carpet. Why Cid had opted for red carpet boggled his mind, especially since Balamb's main colours were blue and yellow.

He turned in the direction of the Meeting Room, and a soft babble of voices reached Squall's ears. He ignored it, and headed into the Meeting Room.

The first thing he noticed was that he was way underdressed.

Everyone was in their best clothes. Even Selphie and Quistis, who Squall had _never_ seen with their hair down, had forgone the clips, hair ties and gel. Zell hadn't, he noted curiously, his almost-platinum blonde hair spiked in its usual style. Irvine also hadn't forgone the hair tie, and Squall was thankful, he _never _wanted to see Irvine with his hair down. No, that hair tie should remain in at all times.

"It's the birthday boy!" shouted Selphie as loud as she possibly could, jumping up and down.

"Hyne, what time is it? I thought we told you to lay off the sugar before 12:00" said Squall dryly. Selphie gave him a big grin, and Irvine chuckled.

"It's about 10:30, and I think it's mainly adrenaline fueling her" he replied, flicking his cowboy hat. '_Does he ever go anywhere without that thing?'_ thought Squall irritably.

"Where's Rinoa?" asked Squall, looking around the room. Hadn't she been the one who told him to come here?

"Probably still getting dressed. I think she's been up since 6:00" said Quistis seriously. "She should've organized this sooner"

Squall folded his arms.

'_Quistis, Rinoa would procrastinate even if the world was ending' _he thought humorously. And it was completely true. Rinoa was the type of person to leave things until the very last second.

Quistis had barely finished speaking as Rinoa burst through the door in her cream dress and ran straight into Squall, who staggered and nearly fell over from the force she'd hit him with. Momentarily winded, he shot Rinoa a nasty glare, who gave him a peace sign in return. She'd been spending way too much time with Selphie lately.

"So-rry" she chimed cheerfully, her cheeks flushed from running and excitement.

Squall gave her a half smile and a shrug, which to her meant they could begin the festivities.

"Should we start with the cake or the presents first?" asked Rinoa.

"You guys got me cake and presents?" asked Squall in surprise. Rinoa gave him an irritated look.

"Of course we did! Haven't you ever had a proper birthday party before?"

Squall shrugged.

"Not one that I can remember"

Rinoa gave him a sad look.

"Ok then, presents first"

Rinoa grabbed a carefully wrapped parcel from the table in the middle of the room and handed it to Squall. He took a seat on the nearest chair, and began unwrapping it carefully. He didn't want to rip the paper that Rinoa had wrapped with such love.

The last piece of tape came free and he removed the wrapping and folded it. He stared blatantly at the item lying on his lap. It was his jacket, identical in almost everyway, except for the pair of white angel wings emblazoned on the shoulders, like Rinoa's cardigan.

Squall briefly remembered mentioning something to Irvine about having something like Rinoa's so they always felt close, since she had his Griever ring.

"I-it's beautiful, Rinoa" he whispered in shock. She leaned down and kissed him briefly, the warmth of her lips dispelling the small butterflies performing aerobatics in his stomach.

"Birthday Kiss"

"Does he get a birthday poke?" asked Irvine cheekily and both Rinoa and Squall shot him deadly glares.

"Save the perverted talk for later" muttered Quistis. "This is supposed to be some _clean _fun, and then you men can go get smashed"

Then an evil grin filtered over her face.

"Oh, right, Irvine. You can't" she said.

Irvine adopted an angry look and shut his mouth.

Quistis gave him a new GPS, since his old one had been giving him the wrong directions for weeks now- it'd been telling him he was in the middle of Centra while on the plains of Balamb.

Selphie gave him a chocolate train, which provoked many awkward looks at her.

And then it was Zell's turn.

He pulled out a large case, which Squall immediately recognized as a gunblade case.

"I have no idea who made this thing, man. I was on a message mission in Esthar a couple of weeks back and decided to do some shopping and I saw this. I figured your birthday was coming so I said 'what the heck'. Mind you, it cost me a butt load of gil, so I hope you like it"

"Is it a custom gunblade?" asked Squall curiously, thinking of the engraving on his own Revolver.

"Just open it and see" said Zell, grinning.

Squall flicked the two latches on the case. It was a heavy thing, the case made of leather and metal, with soft, twirling engravings etched into the metal, which almost formed some semblance of words.

He lifted open the case. What was inside made his eyes widen with shock.

It was a gunblade, yes, but the hilt was almost identical to the Griever pendant hanging around his neck, the handle the cross ending of the pendant while the barrel of the pistol was the head of the lion.

"Holy fucking shit" Squall whispered. He brushed his fingers over the cool metal. The weapon seemed familiar, somehow.

"Woah" said Selphie, looking at it. "How much did you pay for this thing?!"

"Not telling" said Zell, brushing his nose. "A girl sold it to me. She said it was called…erm…Grieve Edge, that's right"

"Grieve Edge" muttered Squall. "This is so unreal"

"I'm not even handing over my present" said Irvine irritably. "You guys' presents kicked mine on so many levels"

"Aww, Irvine's poor ego" said Rinoa cheekily, grinning.

Irvine titled his hat over so it covered his eyes and Selphie giggled at him.

"Never thought you'd be the party pooper" she said, grinning ecstatically.

"Shuddup" replied Irvine, getting annoyed. Squall glanced at him briefly, then returned his gaze to the gunblade.

There was a sudden rumble, the sound of plaster cracking, and Squall threw himself to the floor, covering his head as the room filled with a bright light, and everything went black.

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Squall awoke to smoke filtering down through grey air, the stench of burning reaching his nostrils.

Something warm was running down his face. He touched carefully, and then held his hand in front of his eyes.

Blood. He was bleeding.

He swore quietly as the blood began to drip onto the floor, and the ghastly memories of the dream he'd had but an hour ago flashed before his eyes.

He shut his eyes firmly, trying to block them out.

As the image of Rinoa broken and bleeding flashed through his mind he instinctively called out her name.

"Squall?" came a feeble reply.

He followed the origin of the sound and found Rinoa lying on her stomach.

"Ugh" she said, beginning to sit up. "What happened?"

Squall shook his head. He didn't even know what had happened.

She looked at his face and brushed back a lock of hair.

"You're hurt" she stated worriedly.

"I'll be fine" replied Squall, brushing her hand away. "I don't think the cut is very big"

"It isn't, but it looks deep"

Squall shrugged.

"Is everyone else ok?!" shouted Rinoa. 4 groans responded.

"What happened?" asked Selphie.

"An earthquake?" suggested Rinoa, and Squall shook his head.

"I think it was a bomb" he said grimly. "We need to get to the PDA system and tell all the students to get out of the dorms"

"Three of us should stay here and evacuate" said Quistis from the far side of the room.

Squall nodded.

"Rinoa, Irvine, you come with me. Selphie, Zell and Quistis, you guys have the best people skills, so get as many students out of here as possible"

Suddenly a young, pretty blonde girl ran into the room. She was wearing a cadet uniform.

"Commander Leonhart!" she shouted, saluting. "Vice Commander Xu told me I'd find you here. I have to give you a message. The Training Centre doors have been breached. Monsters are roaming the hallways. Get to the PDA and tell everyone to rendezvous in the Quad"

Squall smiled grimly, and saluted back at her.

"You can count on Xu to get straight to the point. Okay, everyone, you heard the girl. Get your weapons out; we've got monsters to deal with. Cadet, report to Xu and tell her the message has been received"

The girl nodded, saluted again and dashed out of the room. Squall stood up, looking around. The table was in pieces, but the gunblade case holding Grieve Edge was completely intact.

_'Strange' _he wondered inwardly. But he didn't have the time to ponder this phenomenon, so he grabbed Grieve Edge out of the case.

"Rinoa, Irvine, get your weapons and meet me at the entrance to the Dorms" he said as he loaded the gunblade. He then shrugged off his leather jacket and put on the one Rinoa had given him, which was also remarkably undamaged.

The group ran out of the room. Squall headed for the entrance of the dorms, the grey-silver walls rushing past in a blur as he ran.

"What the hell is going on…?" he muttered to himself. First the explosion, then the monsters went nuts…something was up.

But what?

Squall emerged from the dormitory to find himself face-to-face with a T-Rexaur.

Its thick, red hide was lathered in sweat, its mouth open and dripping with saliva. Its tiny eyes glared at Squall with a fierce determination he'd never seen in a monster before.

It let out a ferocious roar, spittle flying at Squall. He ducked as the monster spun around, and its tail brushed over his head.

A weird, tingling sensation ran up and down Squall's spine. He grimaced angrily at the T-Rexaur, readied Grieve Edge, and ran towards it. The T-Rexaur, though quick in most movements, was not quick to move backward, and so had no chance as Squall leapt up and with shocking force drove his gunblade straight through the bottom of the T-Rexaur's jaw and into its brain. The monster keeled over sideways as Squall wrenched the gunblade free, trying his best to not get covered in blood. He'd only just gotten this jacket, after all.

The wound on Squall's head gave a large throb and he grimaced. Rinoa and Irvine then chose that moment to come bolting out of the dormitory.

"That looks like it hurts" said Irvine, pointing to Squall's face.

"It's not as bad as it looks, guys" replied Squall irritably.

"Woah, did you kill that thing?" asked Rinoa, running over to look at the T-Rexaur.

Squall held up Grieve Edge in a matter-of-fact way, the blood streaming off it and onto the floor in a tiny stream of red.

"Never seen a T-Rexaur taken down like that" said Rinoa in awe. "'Spose I should fight with sword wielders more often"

"Nah" said Irvine, strolling over. "They're generally loners. Geez, I can't remember the last time he trained with anyone"

"That's because you weren't around" replied Squall. "Last time I trained with anyone was before I became a user of the gunblade"

"So you didn't always use a gunblade?" asked Rinoa.

Squall shook his head.

"I'll explain it later; we need to get to the PDA"

Rinoa and Irvine nodded and Squall began running towards the elevator. The two ran after him. Their boots pounded the tiled floors of the garden, as the water fountains still running as if nothing was going on, frightened cadets ran around in a frenzy, while the more steadfast cadets and the older SeeD stood their ground and fought off the monsters, protecting the students.

Squall was too focused to notice this properly. His mind was a whirlwind of ideas, theories, what he was doing, and the nightmare from the night before still plaguing him.

_'What could Ultimecia possibly want with me?' _he thought, feeling confused. It had been such a realistic nightmare…and it had been his constant shadow for months. What was the saying, if you have a dream more than 3 times it means something…?

Squall shook his head. He didn't have time to be thinking like this!

He ran around to the foyer and began making his way up the stairs. Rinoa and Irvine closely followed, and they went into the elevator. The door closed behind them and Squall hit the button for the third floor and the elevator 'dinged' quietly.

"I wonder what's going on" said Rinoa quietly. "It seems too suspect to think that the monsters escaping and the explosion in the dorms aren't connected"

"I agree. But I'm definitely not capable of conducting any sort of investigation. I mean, that's not the kind of subjects I chose while doing courses for SeeD. I was more into hands-on work and…"

Squall shut his mouth, realizing he'd said too much.

"What?" asked Rinoa cheekily.

"I'm not telling" replied Squall, folding his arms. "So don't ask"

Rinoa pouted and put her hands on her hips.

"I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be like this anymore" she stated.

"I'm not in the mood today, Rinoa" said Squall quietly, wiping his brow with his hand. It came away severely blood-stained.

"Crap" he muttered as the blood dripped from his hand to the floor. "Does anyone have a cloth?"

Irvine nodded and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.

"I know it's old fashioned but I prefer a handkerchief to tissues"

Squall shrugged and held the handkerchief to his head. The cream handkerchief quickly became a bloody red.

The elevator dinged again and Squall and co. ran into the office. It was empty. In all general terms, Squall was headmaster of the Garden, but Cid still popped up every now and then. Most of the time he lived in Balamb with Edea. The smart couple had decided not to live in the derelict orphanage in Centra.

Squall went over to the database computer and input the administrator password. He clicked on the PDA, and the microphone made some white noise to indicate that it was on.

"Students and SeeD of Balamb Garden, this is Squall speaking. All students are to gather in the Quad. SeeD members should protect the students at all cost. The school is still under threat and the culprit could be inside the walls, so keep your guard up. Stay calm and don't rush each other, or the monsters will attack"

Squall gave a half-smile.

"And when this whole thing is over, don't forget to thank Xu"

He turned off the PDA.

"Well said" grinned Rinoa. "So what do we do now?"

"I can't handle this" said Squall, shaking his head. "There's something definitely going on but I'm not capable enough or qualified to launch an investigation. I'm gonna contact Cid"

"How is he capable of launching an investigation?" asked Irvine incredulously.

"Something like this must've happened sometime before now. Besides, he's got so many more years on his plate than I do. I'm 18, for crying out loud!"

Rinoa nodded sympathetically.

"We should head down to the Quad" suggested Irvine. "Make sure everyone's ok"

"Yeah. Hopefully the medics aren't too short handed…" said Squall, putting his hand on his hip.

"Let's go" said Rinoa, and the group left the way they came.


	2. Chapter II: The Other ScarFace

**~CHAPTER II~**

**The Other Scar-Face**

Far away from the chaos that Balamb was experiencing, a girl with long brown hair was leaning over the guard rail at the D-District prison. She was wearing the Galbadian Soldier uniform, yet her helmet was off. She had a reasonably sharp jaw, high cheek bones and full lips. Her eyes were deep, stormy blue, set in a pair of almond-shaped eyes that almost looked as if she was glaring constantly. Gracing from just above her left eye brow and descending onto her cheek was a scar identical to the one born by Squall.

She brushed a lock of her brown hair out of her face as the wind gusted across the guard rail, sending her hair flapping like a banner. Her hair, though a lot longer, was styled in such a way that if any of Squall's friends saw her, they'd automatically think she was copying him; though that was far from the truth of the matter.

The sound of footsteps on the metal floor of the bridge caused the girl to spin around on her heel so quickly it would've been almost impossible for the human eye to see, anger and panic playing across her face. But when she saw who it was, her face softened greatly.

The young man standing on the bridge also had his helmet off. He had medium length black hair with fading brown tips at the front. His jaw was a little squarer than the girl's, his brow was not as angrily set, and did not shadow his chocolate brown eyes. A light smile was playing across his lips at the sight of her.

"Don't scare me like that" she said, and she turned back to the guard rail and resumed leaning over it, staring at the hot sand.

"You're going to damage your eyes" said the young man in a concerned voice. The girl shrugged.

"You've got the codes, right?" she asked, getting straight to business.

The young man held up a piece of paper and the girl nodded.

"Then let's get this over with. Kavlin had a point when he said these suits were as itchy as hell"

The girl scratched, looking annoyed, and then picked up her helmet. She tied her hair back into a bun with a hair tie, and then put the helmet on. The young man had just put it his own straight on.

The two then made their way into the building on their left. They went down the first set of stairs, and then on the next level the woman went over to a control panel and entered some access codes that she'd obviously used many times over. She then accessed the prison inmate database, which gave her a warning and a place to put in a code.

She glanced around to the young man.

"The code is BR6T-8IO9-G4DF" he said. She typed in the code and the warning message went away. She then typed in a last name into the system, and it scrolled down to the cell number and the other inmates with him.

"Gotcha" murmured the girl in satisfaction. She then brought up a code box and began typing in lines of code, her gloved fingers just brushing each key as she typed with alarming speed.

"Second code number" said the girl.

"ALM-L5-GFE"

She typed in the code, and then continued writing until she looked up again.

"Last line" she stated. "To deactivate the alarms"

"VER-4T5-POL"

The girl's brow furrowed but she still typed the code in to the box. Afterwards, she took a deep, slow breath, then hit the ENTER button.

Loud alarms immediately went off and the young woman shot the young man an angry glare.

"I must've gotten the code for the wrong tower" he muttered dismally. "I'm sorry, Tempest"

Tempest sighed.

"It's ok, Akero. I'm sick of this charade anyway"

Akero smiled at her as a bunch of Galbadian soldiers ran into the room.

"Halt!" shouted one in red, aiming his arm mounted machine gun at them.

Tempest sighed loudly again, and removed her helmet, untying her hair as she did.

"This is honestly the worst dog-and-pony act of a military I've ever been in, and I've been in a few" she admitted. "Don't you agree, Akero?"

Akero also removed his helmet.

"This is the first military I've ever been in, Tempest"

Tempest shrugged in a matter of fact way.

Akero threw out his arm, and the room filled with bright light. When it faded, the two were wearing something completely different to the Galbadian uniform.

Tempest was wearing a coat identical to Squall's, the pale white fur stark against the dark brown of the coat. Around her neck swung the same as his necklace, done up in the same style.

She was wearing a pleated skirt with crossed over red belts, while her feet and calves were covered by a pair of knee-high boots. Each boot had four small belts done up on each.

Akero was wearing a long periwinkle coat with a split hem at the back. It was sleeveless, which didn't really matter since he was wearing elbow-length gloves with the fingers cut off. He was wearing a plain black singlet shirt and a pair of denim jeans that started off dark blue very early while the legs were black. He was also wearing black boots, but his only came up half way his calf.

Tempest drew a gunblade, the Revolver model, and pointed at the enemies.

"It's time you learnt what true soldiers are like" she threatened. Akero also drew a sword-type weapon, but on the hilt was mounted a Blaster Edge.

The two flew at the guards with alarming speed and cut them down as one would slice butter, their blood spilling onto the floor in large puddles of warm red.

Tempest wiped the blood of her gunblade off onto one of the Galbadian Soldiers suits, and then sheathed it.

"For a government that dominates this entire continent, they really suck"

Akero also sheathed his weapon, and then elbowed her.

"We were both born here, remember?" he asked, giving her a half-grimace.

Tempest shrugged, and then made her way down the stairs, Akero following.

"We need to get down to Level Five before they realize we've overrode the lock system" she said, folding her arms when they got to the bottom of the stairs.

Akero made his way to the edge of the great circular centre of the building, which dropped kilometers down in dark depths.

"What floor are we on?" asked Akero.

Tempest walked over to and stood next to him, then also looked down.

"You've got an idea?"

Akero nodded. He pulled out a long rope which had a hook on the end.

Tempest folded her arms.

"I like that idea" she stated. Akero raised his eyebrows.

"It was a joke…" he said, confused. "We aren't really going to drop down, are we?"

Tempest came over and grabbed the rope.

"That's the plan" she replied, smiling slightly. "C'mon"

She hooked the rope onto the end rail that prevented people from falling into the deep hole.

"Here" said Akero. He grabbed the rope off her and put his arm around her waist.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Are you?" replied Tempest, raising her eyebrows.

Akero shrugged. Tempest held onto his shoulder, and they both climbed onto the top of the rail.

"Is this thing going to reach down seven floors?" he asked cautiously.

"That's what I measured it for" said Tempest. "Let's go"

Akero took a deep breath. Tempest then sighed loudly, and pushed him.

"AHHH!!!" screamed Akero as loudly as he could.

"I HAVE SENSITIVE EARS!!" yelled Tempest angrily.

"Sorry" said Akero, and he gave her an apologetic smile as the rope jerked to signify they'd reached the end of it. Akero gave one large swing and the two flew onto the floor of Level Five. Tempest was holding one of her ears.

"I think it's bleeding" she said, looking annoyed as she stood up. "How many times do I have to remind you, Akero?"

"I'm sorry, it was just a spur of the moment thing" he admitted. Tempest sighed loudly, and then turned to the door.

"Ironic" she said, putting her hand on her hip. "This is the cell number"

"Agh, man, how long are we gonna be in here? It's been almost a month and nothin's happened" whinged Raijin.

"CRYBABY" shouted Fujin, gesturing angrily.

"Raijin has a point" muttered Seifer, waving his hand in the air. "We've been in this cell for ages and we've had no signs of when they're going to let us out or why we're in here"

Seifer smiled slightly.

"Not like I don't deserve to be in prison, anyway"

"Untrue, man!" shouted Raijin. "You've been really sorry for all that crap you did a few months back. You were just followin' your dream, y'know?"

"I wonder if Squall's noticed we're gone…or any of them, for that matter…"

As he said it, the door of the cell crashed open for a loud bang. Seifer jumped about a foot in the air in surprise, and turned to see who was standing in the door way.

"HOLY SH…" yelled Seifer, surprise, panic and shock written plain on his face. "Either Squall's got a twin sister or he got a flipping SEX CHANGE!"

Tempest sighed loudly.

"Who's Squall?" she asked, folding her arms. Seifer gwaped.

"You…don't know… who Squall is…" he said incredulously. She shook her head.

"I think I've heard of him. Wasn't he the one who lead the attack against Ultimecia?"

Seifer nodded blankly.

"I don't know him personally, though"

Akero coughed slightly from behind her, which sounded almost like a snigger.

Seifer craned his neck to look at Akero.

"I'm hallucinating. There are not a female Squall and a male Rinoa standing in this cell right now" muttered Seifer, closing his eyes and putting his hands over his ears.

Tempest grimaced angrily, and then walked straight up to Seifer and booted him in the shin.

"OW!" he shouted loudly, grabbing his shin and starting hopping. "Crazy bitch!"

"Am I real enough for you now?" she asked.

"Where the hell did you get that scar?" asked Seifer, pointing at her face. "Because I gave Squall an identical one almost 8 months ago"

"I got it dueling with a friend of mine" she replied coldly. "But she's dead now, so it's none of your business, is it?"

"SHE?!"

Tempest slapped her hand to her face in disgust.

"Look, we're not here to discuss how much I look like this Squall friend of yours, though I do have some empathy for him since this scar hurt like hell" she said irritably, putting her hand on her hip. "We're here to get you out of here"

"Thank god!" shouted Raijin. "We were almost thinkin' we'd been forgotten, y'know?"

Tempest grimaced again.

"But when I ask you three for a favour, you'll do it, no questions. Understood? Or I'll leave you here to deal with what they have in store for you. And trust me, it's not pleasant"

Seifer glared at her, placing both feet onto the ground.

"And how would you know?" he asked angrily.

"Do you want to get out of here or not?" asked Akero. "Tempest isn't the type of person who will answer your questions, you know. You'll just get her annoyed"

"Sounds like someone I know" muttered Seifer. "Fine, we'll do that favour when you ask. But after that, we don't owe you anything. I don't listen to girls"

Tempest and Fujin gave him deadly glares.

"Say that again" threatened Tempest, but Akero walked over and grabbed her sleeve.

"Not now" he said. "You can beat him up after we get them out"

Tempest's face softened dramatically, and she nodded. Somehow, Seifer got an inkling that she was planning something worse than just beating him up, but he decided not to ask.

Tempest then pulled out a bag and threw Seifer his weapon, the Redemption. He caught it with ease. She then threw Raijin's and Fujin's weapons, which they also caught.

"Are you ready?" asked Tempest. "Travelling with us isn't easy"

A slightly malicious grin graced Akero's face for the briefest second, then his face resumed the look of calm he'd had for the entire conversation.

"Don't mind her" he said. "I'm Akero, and she's Tempest, just so you know. Let's go"

Seifer nodded, and his posse followed the two others out the door.


	3. Chapter III: Deeper Meaning

**~CHAPTER III~**

**-Deeper Meaning-**

Drip, drip, drip.

Softly, like the beginnings of rain.

Drip, drip, drip.

Squall's eyes swept over the room, shock written over his face. Blood smeared the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Three bodies were in the room- a woman on a couch, an old man pinned to the wall with fire-tending forks, and a tiny, six year old girl, lying on the floor, her glassy eyes staring at the ceiling. A river of red blood was still flowing from the woman's arm, dripping to the floor.

Drip, drip, drip.

Squall shivered, as he realized there was another person standing next to him.

To his left, a shadowy figure, holding a weapon in his hand. A gunblade? Squall couldn't be sure.

"Mmm. Not bad for the first night" said the shadowy figure, and he left the house. Squall compulsively followed him. The shadowy figure walked out into the main street of Balamb town. He looked up at the sky.

"They'll all pay. You've done well, but I think it's time I took over, don't you?"

And as the shadowy figure spun around, Squall woke up, blinking slowly.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked himself quietly, running his hand over his face. Was the shadowy figure talking to him?

As he thought, yet again something interrupted him, except this time it was a knock on the door.

"Squall, it's me" came Rinoa's voice. "Please let me in."

"You can unlock it yourself" replied Squall irritably, unwilling to get out of bed.

The lock clicked and the door swung open.

"I had a nightmare" she admitted, looking embarrassed.

"You did?" asked Squall, sitting up. "But why are you telling me?"

"Because I always listen to your dreams, you prick" she said, annoyed, walking over and sitting on his bed.

"What was it about?" asked Squall slowly.

"I dreamt I was watching a murder scene. In Balamb, a small family…you know the ones that live next to Mrs. Dincht?"

Squall nodded.

"Butchered…like animals"

Rinoa shuddered.

"You know what the worst part about it is?" she said.

"What?" he asked.

"It really happened."

"What?" blurted Squall, not comprehending what she'd just said.

"The murder. It really happened. A woman, an old man, and a little girl. It really happened. Last night, around 1 am. All three are dead. I saw the photos that the investigation team took. It was exactly the same"

Rinoa went silent. Squall didn't say anything.

"Anything wrong?" she asked suddenly.

Squall stared at her opened mouthed for the briefest second, then shook his head.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You look really pale" said Rinoa, looking concerned. "Another nightmare?"

"Nah. I just slept badly" said Squall, rubbing his eyes. He felt drained, tired, like he'd been on an exhaustive assignment, but his last one was earlier in the month. He'd recovered from it already…

"Well, maybe you should have an energy drink or something. We're heading out to track this guy down since we're a very powerful strike force that can keep hidden and follow unnoticed."

"Uh…shouldn't we have a close-range fighter, then? Both you and Irvine use projectile weapons and mines more mid-range."

"You can fight close-range, and besides, we're supposed to keep a reasonable distance from this guy"

Squall nodded. This wasn't going to be an easy mission, he could already tell.

"The only clue we've got is that someone saw a person buying a ticket for Timber around that time. That's where we're headed."

"Are we leaving today?"

"Yep. So you'd better be prepared!" she said. Rinoa went out of the room, and used her abilities to telepathic shut the door behind her.

Squall waited a few seconds until her boots faded, and then went straight to his desk. There was a bag sitting on it, packed with clothes, some food, and his Grieve Edge gunblade. He briefly remembered packing it just in case something came up.

He stuck his hand in and rummaged around the bottom until he came across what he was looking for, a tiny piece of paper. He pulled it out.

"Holy…" he whispered. It was a train ticket to Timber.

It could be an old one, he reasoned.

"_Y-yeah, it'__s definitely an old one._

_Definitely__…"_

Even so, Squall hid it one of the books in his shelf. He got dressed in a hurry, and then left his dormitory, grabbing the bag. He met up with Irvine and Rinoa at the front desk.

"You look jumpy." said Irvine, folding his arms.

"I do?" asked Squall, suddenly realizing how tense he was. He tried to relax.

"This is pretty freaky, eh?" asked Irvine. "First the explosion and the monsters, now murders in Balamb…I wonder what this guy is after?"

"He doesn't seem to have a motive" mused Squall. "But he's only been acting obviously for two days now; it'll take some time to see a motive if there is one."

"I agree" said Rinoa. "But we have a job to do, so let's get a move on."

"Yes" came Xu's voice as she walked into the front area. "SeeDs, at attention."

Squall and Irvine nodded and saluted.

"Pretend, Rinoa" whispered Squall. She blushed and also saluted.

Xu took a deep breath.

"Our mission is thus. At approximately 0100 hours, a mysterious assailant went into a Balamb home and slaughtered the family of 3 residing. The assailant then bought a ticket to Timber. The chip off of a bone of some sort, found at the crime scene, matches one found at the explosion sight of the previous day at approximately 1030 hours. Since this is a matter of student and resident safety, we have decided to pursue the culprit. Your group is to head to Timber and try to find any clues leading to the whereabouts of this person. You are our best long-distance strike force. Meanwhile, Zell, Selphie, Quistis and I will examine further the explosion site and the crime scene at Balamb. Report to us regularly by email or phone message."

Xu sighed.

"At ease."

Squall, Irvine and Rinoa relaxed.

"Guys, be careful. This guy is really dangerous from what we've seen so far. There was no sign of a struggle, no sign of any resistance, at that crime scene. The murderer completely butchered them. We're probably dealing with someone who has a GF or some such, or even a Sorceress."

"You know, there are male users of para-magic" said Rinoa, pouting. "They're not called Sorceresses."

"I personally think Adel was a dude" remarked Irvine. Squall nodded in agreement.

Rinoa blinked a couple of times.

"You have a point" she muttered. "But even so! They should be called Sorcerers"

Squall folded his arms.

"We need to get going" he said.

"Hey hey, don't forget to say goodbye!" shouted Selphie petulantly as she ran into view. "You didn't even tell me you were leaving, Irvine! Quistis told me!"

Selphie put her hands on her hips, but her face, so used to being joyful and slightly annoying, failed to look irritated.

"You're failing that expression so badly you're making me embarrassed" muttered Squall, putting one hand on his hip.

Selphie pouted, then ran up to Irvine.

"I swear, if you die, I'll hunt you down and kill you!" she shouted and Squall started sniggering.

"Are you LAUGHING?" asked Irvine incredulously.

"Yeah" admitted Squall. "I'm sorry, but that sentence was one of the dumbest things you've ever come up with, Sefie."

She thought it over for a couple of seconds, then her cheeks flushed red.

"I'm gonna go now" she muttered. She pecked Irvine on the lips and hurried off.

"Never boring day in this place" sighed Xu. "I'm gonna head up to the office, and start writing up a plan for the internal investigation. I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

"One question, Xu" said Squall, folding his arms with a very serious expression on his face. "Are we getting paid for this?"

Xu smiled slightly.

"Not if you want the Garden to go broke."

"I thought as much" sighed Squall. "From now on we'll have to rely on ATM's and such to extract money. Remember guys, it costs a lot to extract a lot, the fees are ridiculous in my opinion, so keep your transactions to a minimum. I'm with the Galbadian National Bank"

"Galbadian?" said Irvine. "Aren't you a Balamb citizen?"

"Yeah, but personally Balamb service sucks" admitted Squall. "You haven't lived here your whole life"

"I'm with Galbadian Trust" said Irvine. "I liked their fees better than GNB's at any rate.

"I'm with the Timber Resistance Fund" admitted Rinoa. "I don't have a lot of money in there, about 2000 gil"

"Sheesh, am I going to have to pay for your ticket to Timber?" Squall asked. "You're a 1000 gil short"

"It costs a 1000 gil anyway!" shouted Rinoa. "You poop-head!"

"That's new" he said. "Ok, so we walk…"

"Walk?" asked Irvine smugly. "Nah, we're gonna ride in Squall's car."

"I don't have a car" said Squall, slightly confused.

"Oh really?" asked Irvine, flicking his hat. "Are you sure?"

And he pulled a pair of car keys out of his pocket.

"You didn't…" said Squall, astonished. He took the keys.

"Sorry it's a day late" said Irvine. "I didn't get the keys until around 5pm yesterday. During the party I was just going to give you a pack of con-…"

"Don't finish that sentence" threatened both Squall and Rinoa in unison.

"Hey wait" said Squall as he inspected the keys. "I know these keys. They're for the Tempest range. But you couldn't have _possibly_ gotten me a Tempest. They're so ridiculously expensive, I slap myself in the face every time I think about the one I crashed into the gate in Deling City."

"Well, if you hadn't done that you wouldn't be holding those keys right now. A dealer had a slightly damaged Tempest, after the Deling incident, and he fixed out all the bumps and cracks in it, and I pulled a few strings. The car is all yours"

Squall gwaped at him.

"I was going to get you the other one in that range that has the same name as you, but that'd be weird. Rinoa goes 'I'm go out and drive Squall'. I go 'Up the wall'?"

"She's not driving my car. It's my car" said Squall protectively. "MY car."

He hugged the keys to his chest, pouting.

"You are so selfish sometimes, Squall" pouted Rinoa.

"I didn't know you had a sense of humour" said Irvine incredulously. Squall glared.

"Irvine, where's my car?"

"In the car park, duh" muttered Irvine. "You can be such a thick head sometimes, man."

Squall wasn't listening. In fact, he'd already walked ten steps away from them and his pace was getting faster.

"Squall, wait up!" shouted Rinoa, and her and Irvine chased after him.

It was a rare occasion when Squall smiled slightly.

It was even rarer when Squall laughed.

But the thing that was as rare as the dodo's was a big, goofy smile of absolute joy, and obviously, someone just found a live dodo specimen.

"Dude, that grin is freaking me out" muttered Irvine, covering his eyes with his hat. "Smiling doesn't suit you"

Squall shrugged. Right now, he didn't honestly care. He had a car, and more than that, it was a _Tempest_.

They were driving down the main road that lead to the main town, listening to techno music. The hood was down, and wind wiped all of their hair backward like banners. The sweet, salty smell of the ocean drifted from the beach. Being an island, it was hard to escape the smell of the ocean on Balamb. Squall had grown up with the smell, even while at the orphanage, so it came as a surprise to not have the scent around when on the mainland of Galbadia. After going back and forth between the two nations, Squall had to admit he preferred to not have the smell of sea salt and seagull droppings around.

"If I didn't know better, I would've sworn you got laid last night" said Irvine cheekily. Squall grimaced at the comment.

"Made you frown" teased Irvine. Rinoa pouted at him from the back seat. Irvine had called shotgun before she'd even had a chance to think about doing the same thing.

"I think it's a good thing that Squall is showing how he feels" said Rinoa. "He usually has such difficulty with it"

"Look, if you two are going to be like this for the entire mission, I swear, I'll throw Irvine out of the car and duct tape your mouth, Rinoa" said Squall in an irritated tone.

"Why do I get thrown out of the car?!" shouted Irvine incredulously.

"Because Rinoa's my girlfriend, duh" replied Squall, rolling his eyes.

Rinoa grinned cheekily.

"So what if I was your girlfriend?" asked Irvine.

"Oh gawd" said Squall, face palming. "I'd still throw you out of the car!"

He drove into the town of Balamb and into the car garage. Squall paid for the parking via the automated parking booth and got out of the car, closely followed by Rinoa and Irvine.

"Do you think we should inspect the crime scene?" asked Irvine.

Rinoa shook her head.

"Photos are enough, as well as these" she said, and she pulled out a small sealed bag labelled 'Evidence'.

"What's in there?" asked Squall.

"Fragments from some sort of bone" she said. "There isn't enough to get a DNA sample from them, but their colour is enough to determine whatever we're dealing with isn't human."

Inside the little bag were two tiny little shards of blood-red.

"What kind of thing has red bones?" asked Irvine incredulously.

"It might be some sort of monster we've never encountered, or even a GF. Who knows? Maybe we'll get more answers in Timber" said Squall, shrugging.

"I can't think of any GF that has red bones" said Irvine, raising his eyebrows.

Rinoa went silent.

"I can" she said quietly.

"What one?" asked Squall. He couldn't think of any GF with red bones, either.

"Ultimecia's GF. Griever."

"_Why the hell did she have to mention Ultimecia and her GF__…__?__"_thought Squall irritably.

"Oh right, that thing" said Irvine. "It had red horns."

"And the tips of it's wings were red, as well as the edges of the spikes on its arms" said Squall angrily. "AND it had red fingernails…"

"Sheesh" said Irvine. "You have a good memory."

Squall shook his head.

"It's hard to forget something that has the same name as something you named" he muttered. "Besides…most of my dreams in someway involved Griever."

"Really?" asked Rinoa curiously.

"I'm not going into details" said Squall coldly and he walked in the direction of the train station. He glanced at his hand briefly, thinking of the dream he'd had where he'd had red nails…and purple-black skin.

_Damn nightmares!_

Rinoa and Irvine hurried after him, passing the taped-off front door of the Dincht's next door neighbours. Squall turned the corner into the train station and went to the gift kiosk.

"I'd like to purchase 10 potions and 5 tufts of Phoenix down" he said. The woman got the items out from under the kiosk and handed them to Squall. He paid for them and placed them into his travel bag, then he went to the Train Ticket Seller and purchased three tickets for all of them.

"The train's leaving in 5 minutes. You'd better board" he said. Rinoa, Irvine and Squall got on the train, taking a slow pace. Once inside, Squall leaned against the wall, while Rinoa decided to look out the window. Irvine pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling them.

"So what do we do if we get confronted by that guy?" said Irvine, not taking his eyes off the cards. "I mean…he's obviously very strong. And from what evidence we have, he could even have the Griever GF."

"Just because we found two pieces of red stuff does not mean that we are dealing with Griever" said Squall, face palming. "For all we know, those little pieces may well be bits off a sword or something."

"What swords have red blades, Squall?" asked Rinoa.

"Cutting Trigger. Flame Saber" stated Squall, folding his arms. "The Rising Sun blaster edge blade was red"

"Can you think of any weapons _besides _ones you and Rinoa use?" asked Irvine irritably. "Because it's starting to bum me out."

"I dunno" said Squall. "Me and Rinoa are the only ones who use blades for weapons, aside from Seifer, so…"

Irvine grimaced and crumpled the card in his hand.

"Joker" he stated irritably, and threw the card to the floor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How are we, five teenagers, supposed to figure out someone who managed to not only infiltrate a school full of _mercenaries_, but managed to _blow up _a room where the most powerful known Sorceress was having a _party_?" whined Selphie. "We're doomed!!"

Selphie, Zell, Quistis, Nida and Xu were all standing in front of the third floor office. Headmaster Cid had just returned, and was busy examining exactly what Squall had been doing with the room. It was nothing, really, but a lot of the old decorations had been removed.

Zell put his hand on his hip from Selphie's comment.

"Just because Squall isn't here doesn't mean we need a pessimistic attitude, Sefie." said Zell, shaking his head. "There's gotta be a way to find that ass who crashed Squall's party, literally!"

He punched his hand.

"Don't get excited, Zell" said Quistis, who pushed back her glasses. "We have nothing. Literally. We can't even figure out where the blast initiated from."

"Maybe someone put it under the floor?" suggested Selphie. "If it didn't come from outside room, it had to come from the inside. And I'm pretty sure, from what I saw, it came from the centre of the room."

"I didn't see anything. I was on the floor in two seconds flat." admitted Zell.

"Do you know if the other three saw anything?" asked Xu. "It's a possibility."

Quistis shook her head.

"I asked while I was patching up the wound on Squall's forehead. Neither he, Rinoa or Irvine saw anything. We're drawing on blanks in the blast investigation. But what we do know is that the culprit moved quickly onto something bigger."

"My mom thinks she heard what was happening in the other house. She's really freaked out, and she's staying at the hotel at the moment. I've tried to reassure her, but she's sure as hell that the killer's comin' after her next. Whoever this person is, they've sure crept everybody out. We should probably try and work on reassuring townsfolk."

"And how can we do that when we don't even know if the killer really left?!" said Selphie hysterically.

"Sefie, if you continue with that damn pessimistic attitude I am going to do… something." threatened Zell weakly.

"And what's that?" she sniffed disdainfully.

"TICKLE TORTURE!"

And Zell began tickling her. She began giggling hysterically, shouting stop, but he wouldn't until she started hitting him while laughing.

"Stop! HAHAHA! *punch* STOP IT! Haha *punch*"

"Alright, alright I'll stop" said Zell, ceasing the tickle torture. "Anyway, I think maybe we should wait to see if the culprit has moved to Timber. Maybe Squall and co. will find somet that we can use."

Quistis nodded.

"In the meantime, it's up to us to try and divert the townsfolks attention away from this dilemma. Any ideas?"

Selphie tapped her chin, thinking. Then her eyes lit up and she bounced to her feet.

"Let's hold a concert! Like that one we did to try and get Squall and Rin together!"

"Huh?" said Nida curiously. "So you mean you were all _trying _to get Squall and Rinoa together?"

"I've never heard about this" said Xu, grinning slightly. "A coup to get two people together…interesting."

"It wasn't like that" said Selphie, pouting. "I…we… just thought that they made a great couple. Rinoa is expressive, while Squall isn't, etcetera. Opposites attract, if y'know what I'm saying."

She grinned dreamily and swayed to and fro.

"Their history is so romantic, and sad at the same time. Rinoa's mother and Squall's father were initially in love, but then Laguna got called away to war and met Squall's mother. They got married, while Julia got married to General Caraway."

"Rinoa's father is General Caraway?" asked Nida. "Wow…in a different reality, Rinoa might not have even existed!"

"Neither would Squall. It'd be…a mix of the two. When you think about it like that, that's freakin' creepy!" exclaimed Zell. "What would 'it' wear? Black and blue?"

"Enough talk of a Rinoa-Squall hybrid, we'll find out what it's like when they have kids" said Selphie, sticking her tongue out.

"In that case, Squall and Rinoa are barred from having children" joked Quistis.

"Hey Selphie, what happened to Squall's parents? He grew up in an orphanage with you guys, right?" asked Nida, who seemed genuinely interested.

"His mother died soon after he was born…" murmured Selphie. "She had a difficult pregnancy and she refused to leave Winhill in case Laguna came back. But she died a long time before he returned…Ellone and Squall were sent to our orphanage. Laguna, Squall's dad, is the president of Esthar. He didn't know that Raine was pregnant when he left Winhill."

Selphie sighed and rubbed her foot on the carpet.

"Most of us don't know what happened to our parents, though. I know what happened to my dad…that's it" said Selphie softly.

"What?!" blurted Zell. "Where is he? What happened?"

Selphie rubbed her eye.

"He died shortly after giving me to the orphanage just in case. He was killed in one of the last battles of the Sorceress War."

Selphie blinked tears out of her eyes.

"Sefie, you don't have to talk about this" reassured Quistis, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You're the one who has to cheer us up, remember?"

Selphie sniffled.

"It's not my dad that I'm crying over. I finished crying over him a long time ago. But…I'll tell you later. I have to go get the concert prepared."

Selphie looked up at the group and grinned cheerily.

"I'll see you guys later!" she said brightly. "Booyaka! This is going to be the best concert ever!"

She gave them the peace sign then dashed into the elevator, Zell, Quistis, Xu and Nida watching her with concerned eyes.

"I never thought that she'd be the type to have shadows in her past" said Nida slowly.

"I don't think any of us did…" replied Quistis, folding her arms. "She's always so cheerful, but I've never asked about her past."

"A friend of hers died, I think" said Zell. "She posted a tribute on her diary a couple of months ago, no names but just 'I'll never forget your hugs, or you'. I wanted to ask her about it but she always skirts the subject."

Zell stood up and stretched.

"I guess I'll go help her with whatever she's got planned."

Zell ran off, and Quistis sighed.

"I guess Squall isn't the only one who keeps his thoughts to himself" she murmured thoughtfully.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cabin was silent, except for the scraping of the train along the rails as it swayed along the track. Rinoa was reading a pets magazine while Irvine was cleaning out the barrel of his gun. Squall was sitting down, arms folded and back hunched, thinking deeply. The red velvet walls glowed dimly with the light from the chandelier, and the bunks sheets were immaculately neat, since the group had yet to find the need to use them.

Squall rubbed his eye, thinking.

_I guess we'll leave these ones alive for now. _

Squall's head jerked up in shock and he looked around, his eyes wide with shock and surprise. Where had the voice come from just now?

"Squall, what is it?" asked Rinoa, concerned.

"I thought I heard…no, it's nothing" said Squall, shaking his head. "I'm gonna walk around for a bit."

Squall stood up and left the SeeD cabin. Hadn't anybody else heard the voice?

_Once we arrive in Timber, we continue our work. _

There it was again! Squall rubbed his ear vigorously, but knew he wasn't imagining the voice. It was so clear and coherent. Who was talking?

Could it be the culprit?

_Once we have them all distracted with our antics around the world, we'll return to Balamb to polish off those who could cause us the most grief; SeeD._

Squall carefully snuck up to the cabin next to the one he was just in. Maybe they were in here? If they were, for sure Irvine and Rinoa would've heard them…but then again, maybe not.

_Are you even listening?_

Odd, the voice was getting agitated. But whoever it was talking to didn't reply, still.

Suddenly, the train rocked and a vicious scraping resonated through the train, grating against Squall's ear, sending goose bumps through his skin. The train rocked again and Squall was thrown to the floor, his head hitting hard against the wood panels of the corridor. His vision blurred for a second as he struggled to maintain consciousness, and then he blinked it away and got to his knees.

What was going on? Was the culprit launching an attack?

Suddenly the roof of the train came off and Squall rolled out of the way as a gigantic marron wyvern burnt the other cabin to a crisp. Irvine and Rinoa dashed out of the other cabin, Rinoa kneeling down next to Squall as Irvine drew his gun.

"Are you ok?" she asked worriedly. Squall nodded.

"The monsters keep on going nuts" he murmured thoughtfully. "First the ones in the school and now here…"

Squall grimaced, drew his gunblade and got his to his feet.

"If it's a fight you want, I'm not running away!" snarled Squall and a vicious fight between the wyvern and the party began. It lashed out viciously at Squall, who ducked and slashed at its stomach. The beast dodged quickly, while Irvine's bullets did nothing as they were repelled by the beast's thick hide.

Squall backed off from the monster, and started casting a spell. He currently had Siren junctioned, but so far the beast had yet to use any magic abilities and the need for her was minimal.

"Meltdown!" shouted Squall, and he blasted the monster with a fiery stream of lava-esque magic. The tough scales of the monster wore down and it screamed in pain, the sound again grating against Squall's ears. He'd never felt so sensitive to sound before...

"Nice one!" shouted Irvine, as he dodged a slash fro the monster and started shooting.

Rinoa was also casting a spell, keeping to the back as Squall charged at the monster. It dodged his attacks with lightning speed.

"Slow!" cried Rinoa, and a clock appeared above the wyvern and went in reverse. The beast slowed dramatically, allowing Squall to get in a few decent slashes.

But then it whipped its tail around and sent both Squall and Irvine flying into the cabin that had been burnt out. Squall's head again hit the wall, hard, and his vision blurred again as he struggled to shake off the disorientation. He looked up at the monster through blurred eyes and saw it was preparing a magic attack.

He had a split second to act. He could save himself, or he could protect Irvine…

"Reflect" he murmured, casting the spell on Irvine. He looked at Squall with wide eyes.

"What…?"

The beast suddenly spat an enormous fireball at the both of them, its fiery mass almost blinding to look at. Rinoa spun around, realizing that Squall was both injured and had no defensive magics active, and fast a lightning bolt cast the first spell that came to mind.

"Shell!" she shouted, just as the fiery ball hit them. Irvine's half bounced back and hit the beast in the face, which it seemed unfazed by. When the fireball faded, Rinoa could see that Squall's clothing was smoking slightly, and there were a couple of small red marks where the fire had burnt him. He blinked blearily, and staggered to his feet, determination alight in his eyes.

"Renzokuken!"

Ignoring the pain, ignoring the scolding heat that was still present on every inch of his skin and clothing, Squall charged at the wyvern and began slashing violently. With every slash, the monster screamed, which just made Squall angrier as his ears began to hurt from the sound. He kicked the monster in the face and jumped back, its blood splattering onto the ground. At that point, Squall was in too much pain to even consider empathy for the monster. He pulled back his gunblade and pointed it high into the air, and let energy surround him. A beam of light shot up from his sword, higher than the human eye could see, and the energy surrounding him condensed into one, blinding beam of light.

Squall then, with great effort, brought his sword and the light beam crashing down into the monster, blasting it into a mountain they were just passing and putting a hole straight through it.

"Taste my Blasting Zone, bitch" murmured Squall blearily, as his knees crumpled beneath him and he fainted.

"Squall!" shouted Rinoa, dashing over to him. She gently touched his clothes, which were still slightly warm.

"It's lucky that Garden pays to get us auto-weave clothing" said Irvine, kneeling down next to the unconscious Squall.

"What's that?" asked Rinoa curiously.

"Clothing that can automatically repair itself, using nanotechnology. Immune to heat, cold, etcetera. The only way the clothing wouldn't fix itself was if they got struck by lightning. Why do you think Squall's shirt and jacket didn't have a hole in it last year when he got stabbed by that icicle?"

"I see.." muttered Rinoa. "He was so lucky he didn't die from that. I'm still not sure how."

"Maybe we can ask him when he wakes up?" suggested Irvine, as he kicked a piece of burnt debris. "You should probably cast cure on him."

Rinoa nodded.

"We're nearly in Timber. I think the wyvern only attacked this part of the train…do you think that's weird, Rin?"

Rinoa nodded again, and began casting cure.


	4. Chapter IV: Never Look Back

**~CHAPTER IV~**

**-Never Look Back-**

_**As a note about Tempest, Akero and Mary-Sue's:**_

_**Yes, they are Mary-Sue's, 'perfect 'aside from the gender switch. Well…'perfect' is slightly untrue- it is their differences that make them necessary. This is totally INTENTIONAL. I know how to create original characters, but it's a fanfiction and I was a little iffy about bringing in totally new OC's- I mean, the OC's in RE: Degeneration ticked me off, even. So I went for something a little different.**_

_**Their reasons and how on earth a pair of Mary-Sue's got into FF8 are explained later, but given that Final Fantasy VIII deals with time, travelling into the past, etcetera, I think I can pull this off.**_

_**For now, if they annoy you, you can skip their parts- they stay with Seifer etc until the end of Part 1 (this story is divided into four parts, like discs. It WAS originally going to be a fan-game) and their story doesn't impact on anyone else until the very end of Part 1- it's basically just them breaking Seifer out of prison.**_

_**Also, every person who knows their counterparts point it out- these Mary-Sue's don't go unnoticed. I like the awkwardness it creates ;)**_

_**This chapter is divided in half, so DON'T SKIP IT- Squall, Irvine and Rinoa return 2 pages on and finish the chapter off, and it's pretty important that you don't miss these parts.**_

Tempest's boots clunked loudly on the thick steel as they walked around in circles…basically. They'd been running for a while, but now that they were on the tenth floor, they'd decided to take it easy for a little minute.

"So, Tempest" said Seifer. "What's your last name?"

"Lena" replied Tempest coolly. "Akero's is Caraw."

Seifer exhaled loudly in frustration. He _knew _that she had to have SOME connection with Squall, the resemblance was insane. Akero's was even worse, in a way, given that Seifer and Rinoa had history…and Akero looked a lot like her.

Seifer rubbed his nose in an annoyed way. "You two are dating, right?" he asked.

"Actually…" said Akero, smiling slightly, "That's right."

Seifer raised his eyebrows.

"Stop comparing us to your friends, Seifer" said Akero, looking annoyed. "Trust me, we're a lot different."

Seifer stopped and blinked a few times, feeling quite surprised. He rubbed his eyes.

"Seifer, what is it?" asked Raijin.

"It's nothing" he said, shaking his head. "Let's keep going."

The group was silent as they continued walking down. Seifer, Fujin and Raijin didn't feel like talking to the two weirdos that had busted them out, and the other two just didn't feel like speaking. Pointless chatter was not something they indulged in very often.

Seifer had so many question he wanted to ask them. He wanted to know who they were, really. Who had given Tempest the scar? What happened to her? Did they have other friends? Were they here, too?

Tempest stopped and folded her arms.

"Akero, I hear something."

Akero nodded, then ran down the stairs, out of sight. He came back up five minutes later.

"We've got a Galbadian military guard tank in front of the door. Get your weapons out."

Akero clicked the mechanism on his Blaster Edge, while Tempest drew her gunblade. Seifer, Fujin and Raijin got their weapons out, too.

"I suppose you don't know that Squall uses a gunblade too?" asked Seifer.

Tempest blinked a few times.

"He does?" she asked, as she put her gunblade over her shoulder. "Kind of a coincidence then."

She and Akero then broke off from the group and ran down stairs.

"They are F**KING weirdos" spat Seifer. "And there is no possible WAY that they don't have something to do with Squall and Rin."

"If Tempest wasn't with Akero I would be all over that, y'know" nodded Raijin.

Seifer made a face of absolute horror.

"That's like finding Squall attractive!" he whined petulantly. "How can you even…you're just…oh my god…"

Seifer slapped his hand to his face and shook his head.

"What?" asked Raijin, and Fujin kicked him in the shin.

"DISTRESSED" she shouted at him, pointing at Seifer. "MORON."

"Ow, ow, ow, have some self restraint Fujin, y'know?" said Raijin, hopping around manically.

"Ugh, can we just go fight…whatever they're fighting?" sighed Seifer, and he ran down the stairs, closely followed by Raijin and Fujin.

Down the stairs, Akero and Tempest were already engaged in a ferocious fight between them and a 15-foot tool mech, its shiny steel plates glittering in the dim lights of the prison.

"They didn't have anything like that when I was part of Galbadia" said Seifer in awe.

"Alright, you two know what to do!"

Raijin and Fujin nodded. Seifer and Fujin ran towards the mech, while Raijin stood back and began summoning Quezacotl.

Akero jumped back from the mech at the same time Tempest did.

"Oi, Almasy!" shouted Tempest. "You attack melee! Me and Akero will start casting some magic."

"What kind of magic?" asked Seifer curiously, as Akero began casting and Tempest began summoning.

"You'll see" replied Tempest stoically.

Akero jumped forward and pulled his arm back, then brought it forward while shouting "Meltdown!"

The lava-esque blast hit the mech directly, making it's metal steam and glow fire-red.

Tempest was still summoning as Raijin summoned up Quezacotl. The interior of the prison crackled, then burst with a bright flash of blue light as the thunder bird took form before their very eyes. It rose up, then blasted the mech with a dome of electricity.

The great bird disappeared in mid-air, the mech's outside still glowing brightly while flashes of electricity glowed around its outer surface.

Tempest then jumped forward and brought forth Leviathan. The great sea serpent summoned up an enormous tidal wave and sent it crashing into the mech. Steam gushed up into the air, fogging up the entire surrounding area and probably 3 floors in both directions with a thick blanket of vaporized water. The mech froze, electricity coursing over its surface from fried circuits and extreme damage. Not one to leave a job unfinished, Tempest walked calmly up to the stock-still machine and rammed her right boot into the metal, which prompted shattered the same way glass would if she'd done the same thing to a window. The outer surface gone, the machine collapsed upon itself, as Tempest sheathed her gunblade with a look of tired disgruntlement.

"Victory is absolute" she murmured, folding her arms and closing her eyes. "Now, let's get a move on. I want to be out of this prison in the next half an hour, do you understand?"

Seifer and his posse nodded, and they all began running towards the bottommost exit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the train came to a stand still in Timber station, Squall felt drained for the second time that day. The thrill and exhilaration of doing battle with a monster had worn off, and now he felt just as crap as he had this morning when he'd woken up to find something he'd dreamed about had come true.

He shivered. The idea of his dreams coming true was so totally unthinkable he couldn't describe it. It made his heart race and cold sweat bead up on his body just at the very thought… in just about every single one of his dreams over the past months, he'd been from a first-person view of something the world feared; something _he _feared, a lurking shadow behind the lion he'd always held as his symbol.

Had he always held it as his symbol…?

"Squall? Are you alright?" came Rinoa's soothing voice as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Squall shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Yeah, I'm fine" replied, putting his hand on his forehead. "Just getting too caught up in my thoughts is all."

Rinoa adopted a concerned look, then sighed. "Well, we're at Timber station. Let's go."

Squall nodded and he, Rinoa and Irvine left the damaged train as the announcement that the train wasn't taking passengers came over the PA system. Commuters at the station groaned, but there were only a few people there anyway.

Rinoa was instantly on the case. She walked up to the station master, both determined and confident.

"Hello, sir. Have you seen any suspicious people arriving today?"

The man shook his head. "There's only been three trains before this one, and they were very sparse. The only suspicious looking people I've seen today are you three."

"Us?!" said Rinoa in shock. "How are we suspicious?"

Squall sighed and pulled out his wallet, the took out his SeeD ID and showed it to the man. "We're a SeeD task force with the intention of weeding out a man who murdered a family in Balamb and then bought a ticket to come to Timber. If we catch him quickly, perhaps we can spare more innocent lives."

_No lives in this world are innocent, Squall, and I hope you remember that._

Squall span around, panic playing across his face. The voice he'd heard on the train!

Who was it? Who was speaking?

"What is it?" asked Irvine. "You look like you've seen a ghost, man."

Squall shook his head.

"It's nothing" he said. "I'm just tired, I guess."

Rinoa looked concerned again, then sighed tiredly.

"Well, I've told you all the information I know. I don't really pay attention to who comes off the train, but I'll remember your faces. What happened to the train, anyway?"

"We got attacked by a wyvern" stated Irvine. "We managed to kill it, but heavy damage was sustained in the process."

"We?" joked Squall. "I'm kidding. Come on, let's go."

Squall walked down the steps of the Timber train station, followed by Rinoa and Irvine.

Suddenly, a flash of a young man darted passed, and Squall's wallet was gone in a flash.

"HEY!" shouted Squall angrily. "YOU LITTLE THIEF!"

And without any sort of warning, Squall took off after the kid, dodging through passerbys and shoppers as Rinoa and Irvine tried to keep up.

"Has he…been doing… a lot of… cardio… lately?" said Irvine, beginning to get winded.

"No…idea" replied Rinoa heavily.

The kid was speeding down the path faster than Squall to catch up, and then it clicked in his mind.

"Slow!" he shouted, throwing out his hand and casting the spell. The kid slowed down dramatically, so much so that Squall casually walked up to him and took his wallet back.

Grabbing the back of the child's shirt, he pocketed his wallet and sighed loudly. "Esuna" he murmured, and the kid sped back up.

"Hey! That's cheating!" said the child, struggling in his grip.

"Not where I come from, kid. Now, where's your mother?" asked Squall.

"Get off me you creep!" shouted the kid.

Squall sighed irritably, face-palming with his free hand. "I hate kids, especially thieves" he muttered loudly. He then roughly picked up the kid, and looked around in the crowd for a disgruntled mother. A panicky woman with a slightly familiar face was over near a toy store.

"Is that her?" asked Squall, pointing her out. The child nodded, and Squall walked over to her.

"Is this your son, ma'am?" he asked. Her eyes widened and she nodded. He grimaced in return.

"Any idea why he's running around robbing people?" he asked irritably.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" said the woman. "I said no to a toy and he just…what can I do to repay you?"

Squall shook his head. "It's nothing" he replied.

"Oh come on, there's got to be something!" she said, adopting an annoyed expression and Squall got the biggest slap of déjà vu he'd had in a while.

"Hey, miss, do you know a girl named…"

"Squall!" came Rinoa's panicked voice from the crowd. "Where are you?"

"Over here" he called, waving his hand. "As I was saying, do you know a girl named Selphie?"

"No, though someone might've mixed up name's or something. I'm Sophie" she said, holding out her hand. Squall shook it, unable to get over how closely she resembled Sefie.

"It's just that…you look so much like her…" he said, scratching the back of his head, as Irvine and Rinoa caught up to him.

"Too much cardio, buddy" said Irvine, and then he looked at the woman named Sophie and his eyes widened.

"Hey, she looks like…" he started.

"That's what I was just asking" said Squall. "But she's too young to be Selphie's mother."

"No, wait. Did you say 'mother'?" said Sophie, her emerald green eyes going wide. "What's her last name?"

"Tilmitt" said Irvine. "Her name's Selphie Tilmitt."

The woman put her hand over her mouth, her eyes going even wider with shock.

"She…she…oh my gosh" she said. "Kevin named her after me…I thought he would've hated me…"

"Wait, you ARE Selphie's mother?!" shouted Irvine. "Where have you been her whole life? She spent her first few years in an orphanage!"

"I was fifteen when I got pregnant" murmured Sophie, looking down. "I said to my boyfriend we were going to keep the baby, but after she was born I freaked and took off to Deling. I never saw Kevin or my baby girl again and I assumed that Kevin had either put her in an orphanage or avoided the authorities; this was near the end of the Sorceress War and young men were just getting dragged into the army more and more often. He was only sixteen when the girl was born."

Sophie sighed.

"You abandoned your daughter?" spat Rinoa. "How could you do such a thing?!"

Rinoa's eyes were alight with fierce fury, which Squall guessed had come from Rinoa growing up without her mother.

In his honest opinion, Squall believed her situation was harder than his. It was better to have never known his mother, than to have her die, ripped out from his grasp.

"You weren't in that situation" replied Sophie, her eyes begging for forgiveness. "I was so young and so scared. I almost killed myself when I found out I was pregnant."

Irvine sighed, his serious side coming out as his face went from his usual playful face to a look of slight annoyance and sadness.

"Give us your number. When we return to Balamb, we'll get her to call you. It's her decision of whether or not she'll talk to you, and I'd hate for her to get pissed at me for just letting you call up."

Sophie gave him a weird look.

"I'm her boyfriend" he stated.

She raised her eyebrows, jotted her number down on a notepad and gave it to Irvine. He pocketed it.

"See you around" he said, flicking his hat, and the trio left.

"Very very very very very very very weird" muttered Squall. "So now more than two of us have one parent alive."

Irvine tipped his hat over his eyes. "Yep" he replied. "I can see where Selphie got her cuteness from."

Squall nodded, and then his stomach rumbled loudly. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open to check the time.

"It's 2:40pm" said Squall. "How about we grab a bite to eat, ask some more people about whether or not they've seen anything, and then check in at the Timber Hotel when it's dark?"

Rinoa nodded, and smiled at him. They walked around the arcade for a while, looking at eateries, until they decided on a cosy café at the very end of the arcade, in the sunlight.

They took their seats, Squall adopting his usual, hunched over sitting position as he thought over what they knew so far. All they had to go by was a few pieces of a red material, a train ticket to Timber, and a voice…a voice that only he could hear, apparently.

Squall thought about it. If it was Griever doing this (or someone who had the GF Griever) perhaps it was Squall's spiritual connection with it that caused him to be the only one to hear the voice?

He almost laughed out loud at the notion. He was making excuses, and the voice was probably him imagining things in the first place.

The waiter walked over, a red-headed young man with a splatter of freckles around his nose and innocent, bright eyes walked over.

"What would you like to order?" he asked. Rinoa smiled at him.

"How's Fox doing?" she asked. The young man grinned.

"She's trying to get active again, but the Owls were really the driving force behind it."

Rinoa nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll get their butts into gear" she said, winking. "I'll have the chicken salad with Dolletan dressing, please."

Squall looked up from his thinking, deciding on what to eat.

"I'll have the…scotch fillet, medium rare, with a baked potatoes as a side. Irvine, what are you having?"

"Medium rare?" he asked, giving Squall a raised eyebrow look. Squall shrugged. Irvine shrugged as well, and leaned back a little on his chair.

"I'll have the chicken parmagiana with chips. Don't skimp on the tomato, buddy!"

The red head smiled, and left. Squall glanced around the shop. A quaint little shop with white walls on the inside, with landscape paintings. The counter had various biscuits lined up on it. The shop had three little booths inside and four tables outside, surrounded by a small glass fence. The pavement was in a swirly pattern that had been held for the entire length of the shopping arcade, which was enclosed and lit by dim lights. The tables and chairs were made of rough wood, but the chairs had cushions strapped onto them for comfort. The arcade led onto the view of a residential area, almost as quaint and homey as the shop itself, lined up in rows. The sky was open and clear with only a few wisps of clouds, and the temperature was about 18C, perfect temperature for Squall to keep his coat on.

He leaned back in his chair and started watching the clouds as they drifted along the sky. The table was quiet, as Rinoa and Irvine sipped the complementary water, while Squall kept silent, watching the clouds as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world.

He watching the shapes they formed, and felt a snicker rise up in his throat as the deformed shape of some guy with a sword longer than he was tall showed up.

"That cloud looks like its compensating for something" he laughed slightly, and then sat up as the red head came back with the food.

He served it up, and the group tucked in, savouring each bite, given that they hadn't eaten all day. The train ride from Balamb to Timber was a long one, after all, and they'd forgotten to eat.

After they'd finished their meal, Rinoa talked to the Forest Fox member for a little while, and they got a discount on their meal. They headed off into a different part of Timber.

"Where and who are we supposed to ask about this?" asked Irvine miserably. "It's like chasing a shadow."

"That's exactly what it's like" declared Squall, "But it doesn't make our job any less necessary. Let's go down to that pub near the train station and ask around there."

Rinoa and Irvine nodded. The group headed down the pub and asked around, but got nothing. The walked around almost the entirety of Timber, asking people, before it got dark- and nobody knew anything.

"This is so helpless" said Rinoa in a depressed voice, as they walked into the hotel and booked their rooms. "I'm so miserable."

Squall hugged her from behind.

"It'll be alright" he reassured her. "Who or what did this, I'm sure we can find them."

Rinoa smiled slightly, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "It's not very often you comfort me, you know."

Squall smiled back. "I figured you needed cheering up."

"I miss Selphie" whined Irvine miserably. "I'm going to call her."

He got out his phone and started dialling.

"You going to tell her about who we met today?" asked Squall curiously. Irvine shrugged.

"I might."

Squall nodded, then rubbed his eyes, stretched and yawned widely.

"I'm tired" he pronounced. "I'm going to hit the sack. Love you, Rin."

He kissed Rinoa again and headed upstairs to their room. He pulled off his belts, gloves and coat, kicked off his shoes and flumped onto one of the single beds.

"What a day" he murmured, getting comfortable on the bed. "Could've gone better."

He yawned again, his eye lids getting heavy. He shut them, and fell asleep.

He didn't really dream, except for the very end. Watching himself in a mirror.

When he woke up, he was in front of the mirror.

He blinked disorientedly. What kind of dream was that?

He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He'd had a good sleep, he admitted.

The sounds of a riotous and frightened crowd from the streets made him curious to what had happened. He glanced out the window. A massive crowd was clustered around a group of residential estates, the early morning sun illuminating them all clearly.

Suddenly he felt panic rise up inside him, like a bubble about to burst. He put on his shoes and grabbed his coat, putting it on as he dashed out of the room and down the stairs. Irvine and Rinoa were nowhere to be seen, and he suspected that they were in the crowd. But as he thought this, Rinoa came running up the stairs.

"Squall!" she shouted, panic and fear clearly written on her face. Squall felt the bubble inside him burst and that feeling that he'd slightly held back washed over him.

"They've struck again, haven't they?" he asked numbly. She nodded, and they both ran out of the hotel and to the residence, where Irvine was waiting with a bunch of police.

"I don't think photos can show you what's in there, Squall" said Irvine. His face was pale, and his cowboy hat was off. His hat was _never _off.

The police looked at Irvine and he nodded. They opened up the tape, and the three of them went inside.

The walls were dripping red, like paint. Larger parts of gore decorated the house like some sort of sick design.

"It's…in here" said Irvine, walking into the lounge. Inside, the bodies off about eight people had been stacked on top of each other, ripped open, there innards spilt over the floor carelessly. Scrawled on the wall was writing that made Squall's mouth go dry with shock. Rinoa was also staring at it, wide-mouthed.

"You know what this means, right?" asked Irvine. Squall nodded.

"He's teasing us" he stated. Rinoa walked forward carefully, staring at the first line of writing. "Not only that, Squall" she said quietly, turning around. "It's Griever, isn't it?"

Squall nodded, still staring at the words.  
_'Grieving yet? Well why don't you come catch me?'_


End file.
